Ex-Carteret High School vice principal admits to child pornography count

Nicholas Sysock admitted in federal court today to possessing child pornography and now faces up to 10 years in prison.Adam Elmquist/Google Earth

CARTERET — The former vice principal of Carteret High School admitted in federal court today to one count of possession of child pornography, less than a year after he was arrested when investigators found video recordings of child pornography in his Union County home.

Nicholas Sysock faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced in August in federal court in Trenton, according to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman’s Office.

Sysock, 53, whose October arrest at his Rahway home shocked the Carteret school system where he had taught for 21 years, purchased numerous DVDs of child pornography from Canada, federal prosecutors said. During a search of Sysock’s home, federal investigators found the DVDs, which they say he bought between 2008 and 2011, along with printed images featuring naked children, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Sysock was Carteret High School vice principal at the time of his arrest, and had taught as a middle school history teacher in the 1990s.

His federal public defender, Carol Gillen, could not be reached for comment.